Articles written by Douglas Sonders

Have questions you want to ask a creative industry professional, but wasn't sure who to turn to? I've been writing for Fstoppers for over a year now. I've been able to share my own BTS shoots, those of friends, reviews, tutorials, and more. I've had the chance to interact and meet some great people through here, and I really want to do something more for you folks. Rather than do a fresh article this week on something I find interesting, I am leaving the content completely up to you.

Pepper Yandell is a talented young photographer out of Texas who shoots some of the coolest cars in the world. He recently was given an awesome opportunity to photograph a couple of supercars in a hanger with really expensive jets - the kind of shoot car photographers dream about. Pepper was nice enough to share with me about how he put this shoot together.

It has happened to all of us a million times: After wrapping up a creative photo shoot and go through some of the images in post, we typically find a few photos in there that are "meh" at best and you most likely pass over or discard. Well, photographer and retoucher Glyn Dewis once again shares an awesome Photoshop / Lightroom tutorial on how he turned one of his throwaway photos into a killer shot. Check out the final image and information below.

I met Brian Friedman as we were both shooting various iHeartRadio festivals and concerts around the US a few years back. Brian is a machine. He's passionate, hard working, and one of the best modern concert photographers I've ever met.

The concept of doing a Robocop photoshoot has always been on my wish list, but have not been able to find someone with the proper original costume... until now. You see, my friends and I have always obsessed over the original Robocop film since it first came out (don't mention the sequels). I am just thankful that my photography career has allowed me to recreate the daydreams I had as a kid. Read below about how I put this ultimate personal shoot together and see the final results.

Bobby Bruderle is an incredibly talented photographer that has turned his love for light and storytelling into film making. Bobby is a friend of mine and that I've seen grow his career in a matter of a few years. His name is one to remember. When he shared his new music video for the popular vocalist G-Eazy, I knew I HAD to interview him about how he came up with the idea and how it all came together.

For years, medium format cameras have been stuck with digital CCD sensors that are poor-performing at high ISO's because creating medium format CMOS sensors was prohibitively expensive. Well, that has all changed now. Hasselblad teased their new CMOS medium format camera earlier this week, but today Phase One announced their new CMOS digital medium format back and not only is it ready to ship on Monday, but it already looks like it will be a class dominator.

Photographer Tim Coburn takes us along on his commercial and lifestyle shoot in Ocean City, Maryland. View behind the scenes as he scouts locations before the shoot and how he troubleshoots with unexpected weather. Shooting a beach scene and don’t have a bright sunny day? See how to use clouds as your own natural soft box. Using only a 4x7 panel reflector, Tim demonstrates the advantages of simple lighting while incorporating shadows for texture while letting his model’s movement come alive on set. See the post below to learn more and see the final images.

About 9 years ago, I was a tour photographer for the rock band 3 Doors Down and I had the chance to attend my first Nascar race (from the infield no less!) As a car guy, it was a great chance to watch all of the action from the front row. Never did I imagine in my wildest dreams that I would be getting a call from the National Guard nearly 10 years later to do the official 2014 photoshoot of one of my favorite drivers and his new car, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

When looking at portraits, we have a tendency to look at the eyes first. We can't help it, it's part of human nature. This is why I personally believe it is extremely important to capture and refine the eyes in your photos to create more engaging portraits. Retoucher Michael Woloszynowicz created an awesome 4 part video series about how to make your eyes look amazing in post production. See the rest of the post below to watch video parts 2 through 4.

Photographer Philipp Rupprecht (his Facebook page) recently did one of the coolest photoshoots I have ever seen of a custom Lamborghini Aventador. Having access to a small German airport, runway, and aircraft certainly doesn't hurt for the overall epicness. Check out the amazing post-production process in the video above and read the post below to learn more.

There is a new photographer on the scene and his name is Teddy Richardson (no relation to any other popular photographers). Some may think he may not be real or this is merely some sort of parody, but I can tell you for certain that he is a full-fledged bear and photographer that is and has been accepting new paying clients.

Curious how to properly shoot a background environment to drop a studio-photographed subject into? I know that is something I honestly struggled with early on. We regularly feature Glyn Dewis on Fstoppers, and recently he put together a quick and easy 2 minute video that gives crucial tips on how to make sure your focus/depth of field and angle of your background is captured correctly so it matches up with your portrait subject.

So you have a priceless Porsche race car to photograph for an ad campaign and you have to make it look like it's driving really fast, but space is tight and you left your stunt driver at home. So how do you get the shot of this car driving fast while parked? This is exactly the challenge car photographer Frederic Schlosser faced for this project. Watch the video and read below to learn how he executed this shoot perfectly.

Recently, I started working with a new steadicam operator for my video productions in the New York City area, Kyle. Aside from his upbeat positive demeanor, I noticed that every piece of equipment seemed to be customized with velcro for maximized efficiency. Little did I know, he had started a youtube series called "The Efficiency Machine" showcasing his different velcro-inspired inventions such as his "Super Desk." See below for more examples of his velcro madness/genius.

They say photography opens doors to new adventures and experiences. Well, for photographer James York, he literally went head to head with a wild Elk in the Great Smokey Mountains National Park. The story goes as such: while James York was photographing an elk from a distance, the animal decided to do something unusual: it decided to get closer and investigate the human and his camera. As interesting as this sounds, unfortunately the ending of this story is a sad one.

This shoot combines two things that I really love as a photographer: motorsports and incredible shoot locations. This comprehensive behind the scenes video captured by Ron Risman really gives you a great idea of how photographer Gregor Halenda put the campaign together. The resulting images were crisp and clean, showing off the bikes and locale.

I thought this was a cool retrospective video that DigitalRev put together using clips from their old episodes of Cheap Camera Challenge. This piece essentially shows how some veteran shooters keep composed when faced with on-set challenges. Everything from face-planting onto concrete while trying to take a photo to dealing with deadly snakes just inches away